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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Here are some pictures I took at the Pueblo Zoo...this was with some kids from Biker Church and from another church. We had fun looking at the animals all day and I had a great time taking pictures at the Pueblo Zoo! I always find some great images at the zoo!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Finally, got these photos edited and am finally uploading them. I couldn't do much of anything with them for a while because we had Sturgis immediately after this, so I didn't have any time. However, now that I am back home, I have finally finished up with them and so am uploading them in this slideshow...most of it is from the hike and there aren't actually a whole lot of pictures of family, in fact...

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Sturgis Bike Week has been a lot of fun this year. Sometimes I can kind of tell when it's a little down--not necessarily that we have less help or anything, it's just that some years seem better than others. This year, in my opinion (even though we were missing some key people like my brother and Mom), was a great year. Dad even said this year was "pivotal." I don't know how much it changed exactly, but it has helped us to stretch our ministry in ways we haven't before. Some people had to take on new roles to compensate for the lack of people, and everyone had to take on a little more responsibility than in previous years.

That said, I did enjoy this year a whole bunch. I've had a lot of fun and a lot of work and a lot of memories to take back home with me.

But first, to catch everyone up. Yesterday morning started out a little more difficult than usual as we had to set a lot more up than usual. After the rain from the night before, we had to take down more than usual to keep everything from getting wet. As a result, we all had to get up a little extra early to get the Kidz Zone open in time. Dad had addressed us the night before, saying that we really needed to finish strong, even if a lot of the equipment had been put away already. So we lugged it out again (only to be put away the last time in a few hours). But I think it was good. We had a pretty busy day, even though clouds threatened to turn nasty a few times.

We had something of a makeshift show at the end. Dad didn't have much of a script, but it turned out working well without much of a script. A lot of it was thanking people for all their help--we'd thank a group, then bring out a puppet or character for the kids to say goodbye to. Dad even mentioned me. He was going to have me wave at the audience through the puppet windows, but I suggested just throwing a thumbs up to the kids without showing anything else to kind of keep the mystery of the sound man who controls everything but is not seen except behind the closed curtains...I thought it was kind of cool! We also gave away the Mp3 Player that the kids had been competing for all week.

It was getting chilly by the time we finished and the rain looked again like it might come down on us, so we started tearing down the whole setup as soon as we could. The next hour or two were very busy--lots of work, whether folding and rolling up bounce houses or hauling bins or stacking supplies into a tightly-crammed trailer. We were all very glad when it was over. We had still managed to avoid the rain, so none of the equipment was put away wet.

After all that we went to Pizza Ranch in Rapid City to celebrate. We know the manager there--he had been coming to help out since he was around twelve, so we thought it would be a good place to go (and, oh yeah, he gave out a few free buffet tickets)...

We had a great time, but when we finished it was time to say goodbye to a lot of friends. We were still staying in Sturgis while the others stayed in Rapid City for the night.

The next morning we got up and packed all our stuff up from the church and got it put away. We also cleaned up a little--vacuumed a little and stuff. After that, Dad preached at the same church we were staying at (which made things a little more convenient). We had lunch at Taco John's, then walked around in downtown Sturgis one last time. When we were done with that we took the RV to the church in Rapid City, where we are staying tonight. We had a look at some of T-shirts on sale at some of the stores, but they were all still too expensive, so most of us just went without a shirt this year.

We grabbed some pizza before going back to the church, which is where I am now, blogging away...

We plan on getting up pretty early tomorrow, then heading back home. Ought to be sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night. Pretty strange thought.

It's been a great year. I hope next year will go great like it has this time around!

Hopefully I will be going to get my motorcycle sometime around the end of this month...I'll give more details on that as I get them! Thanks for staying with the blog for Sturgis Bike Week, 2012!

Friday, August 10, 2012

It's been real busy the last couple days.
I wasn't able to blog last night, so I'll have to try and remember what
happened again today.

Yesterday was pretty busy. We had
kids come in pretty close to the time we opened and had kids most of the whole
day. Part of the way through, I started
shooting interviews of the workers for a promotional video I'm wanting to put
together (hopefully it will help us to get some more volunteers next
year). Getting people to interview,
however, is harder than it seems. There
are a few people that aren't comfortable in front of a camera or just don't
have any time. But usually they will
agree.

When I interview someone, I try to make it like a conversation. I ask questions and let the person being
interviewed answer in his or her own words.
I can edit everything afterwards, which makes things a lot more
flexible. One of the biggest challenges
I was faced with was finding an area that I could record in without too much
background noise. I had come to
underestimate how loud Sturgis really is--motorcycles, airplanes, lawnmowers
(since we are in the city park) bounce houses, kids, and wind, just to name a
few of the problems. But with enough
searching, I found some relatively quiet locations to film in.

Of course, I couldn't actually start filming without any batteries in my
audio recorder. It had run out of charge
and, of course, I had left all the backup batteries at home. I asked around, and eventually Tim Greeley
bought me some the next day, which postponed my filming longer than I wanted,
but that's what I get for forgetting batteries at home! Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Greeley!

With that finished, I started interviewing people. I got three interviews done on the first day
and they seemed to go pretty well--even if they took most of my day to get
them. It is pretty difficult to move
around with a whole camera + audio recording setup in one hand...

It was a fairly busy day that day, but things went well. The kids show, too, went well, and I was able
to make it through sound man duties pretty much trouble-free.

After the show, I went with a few others to Rapid City because we were
headed for an indoor water park that night!
I had a great time going down water slides and playing with friends (even
if it left me a little sore the next day).

It was cloudy the next morning, and stayed that way for most of the
day. Business was slower than usual, but
I used that to my advantage to get a couple interviews in. Also, I helped Steve-O with his video blog on
filming Dad. We had done it the day
before, but it somehow must have gotten deleted, so we had to re-shoot. This morning, no one could keep a straight
face, and as Steve-O needs it all in one continuous take, it took a very long
time to get everyone sober and everything just right.

After Dad he interviewed me and my sister together. It's different on the other side of the
camera--having to think of what to say, saying it right and doing so
quickly...it puts a different kind of pressure on you. Rather than filming it all, you're the
one being filmed, and you're the one making content for people to watch.

I thought I did okay, even though it took a couple takes (not nearly as
long as Dad's interview went).

Rain clouds started to gather toward the afternoon. The wind picked up too strong, so we had to
take down the bounce houses. As it
picked up and started raining, we also began to put away the tents and
electronics, along with anything that might blow away.

By the time the kids show was about to start, no one wanted to be
outside. So, instead, we went mostly
off-script and just had the show indoors!
It went better than I would have thought and the kids had a great
time. We still had a game and Dad was
able to preach to the kids. The show
almost seemed normal except for the closed space and lack of any microphones or
music.

With most of the closing down done, we just prayed after the show and
pretty much were done. Afterward, we had
an Honor Bound Motorcycle Ministrymeeting that last for almost an
hour. It was nice to talk to adults and,
as a member, almost talk as though I were one.
I took notes for the most part, however, even though I did say something
or bring up a topic now and then.

Then everyone left for supper, so now I'm back at the pavilion on
security. The rain picked up a little
while ago pretty hard and I had to start moving stuff away from the edges to
keep it from getting wet. A father and
his son came in looking for shelter from the rain and I was able to give them a
Bible lesson and let them color a motorcycle coloring page while they waited
for it to subside a little. I talked
with the parent for a while, and he said he would try and come back tomorrow
after I told him what we normally do here.
It felt kind of good to know I might have helped someone come to our
ministry...

Anyway, that's pretty much all that's happened so far. Just waiting for everyone to come back, then
it's off to the Sturgis Church so I can go to bed in their basement with
everyone else! It's a little scary to
think that Sturgis is nearly over; but I will enjoy it as long as I can!

By the way, don't forget to check out Steve-O's blog. whichever video you see, I was probably
holding the camera! (Unless, of course,
you find the one in which I am interviewed...)

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Today started off slower than any of the other days yet. The sky was clear, the bounce houses were up,
the Kidz Zone was open--but no kids. Not
for the first couple hours, at least.
When kids did come, I actually felt like we weren't quite as short staffed
as we are, just because it was going pretty slow. I'm hoping it's just because this is the
middle of the week...

But I was glad for a slow day. I
think all of us felt a little drained this morning--I was ready to go back to
bed for a good part of the morning! But
I knew I had a job to do, so I went about my business.

We completed the show meeting early since we had the time. Today was "Race Day," where we
bring out a Hotwheels race track and buy some toy cars and race them. This has been a particularly well accepted
game in years past and we kind of look forward to it. We also had a professional motorcycle racer
called Rich Vreeland come and talk to the kids a couple years ago on this
day. Both of those contribute to our
having made it a sort of annual event.

We had fun racing cars (and judging by the kids' cheers of excitement, I'd
say they did, too). The kids show went
pretty well, and I was able to play music on my queues correctly! After the show, we had another water
fight. I keep staying out of it to take
pictures and videos of it, but I do want to participate at least once. I just can't pass up the chance to splatter
kids in the face with water balloons and have them wanting more!

While on security tonight (everyone else was gone doing laundry...can't say
I was sad to miss that) I saw a few guys pull up near our RV on their
bikes. They looked like normal people,
but I was pretty cautious. After
calling, Dad told me to just keep an eye on them. Eventually, Chaplain D-No came by and went
over to a bench to watch them closer.
Soon everyone came back, and then the others cleared away.

Well, it's been a few days and I'm starting to feel tired--the tired that
lasts longer than morning or evening and kind of just stays in the back of your
head. But I am still having a great
time, and I know it's only a week!
That's a good thing and a bad thing sometimes...

As the days go by, the general pattern of Sturgis begins to set in--getting
up, setting up and working wherever we are needed all day. It's not really a bad thing...it helps to get
used to things. However, it seems like
once things settle in and we all know what to do, that's when the time goes by
the fastest.

Today was slower than yesterday. It
started out cloudy and as the morning progressed it even rained just a little
(but not enough to have to take down the bounce houses, thankfully). While it was cloudy, we had almost no
kids. But an hour later, when the clouds
cleared away a little, people started to come in more steadily.

I was busy most of the morning and could not help monitor the bounce houses
until almost lunchtime. First, I was
setting the sound equipment up. That was
the last big thing on my list of what I had to set up. Then Dad brought in a brand new printer
(which he found for around $30--which I thought was a great deal for the kind
of printer we got). I spent much of the
morning creating forms and printing them out.
One of them was to keep track of the kids' points. Kids can get points by doing various
activities here at the Kidz Zone, from bringing other people or doing Bible
lessons to just attending a kids show.
Those points are then counted up for each kid and they go toward the
grand prize of an Mp3 Player that we are giving away at the end of the week to
the kid who has worked up more points than anyone else.

Sometime in the later morning Steve-O asked me to come with him so he could
show me something he had done with our advertising signs over by the
road. When we got there, I saw he had
hung up the "Kidz Zone" sign right below the city park sign. We took turns taking pictures of it and of
the road filled with motorcycles with both of our cameras, which I found to be
pretty fun. He also showed me his tripod
that turns into a monopod on the way, which I thought was pretty cool.

After lunch, it was only a short time before I was called over to help
prepare for the show(These days go by so fast!). We haven't really had much of a schedule made
at any point, but Dad is pretty good at choosing a theme and then adapting the
materials and skits to fit that theme.
We have classics from years past and this year also have a new act or
two that we use. Even though we are
using essentially the same equipment every year, Dad is always coming up with
new ways to make the programs original and interesting.

However, as we don't have a set routine or anything I usually have to
prepare music and sounds on the fly.
Each character or puppet has a different song that come out to and
sometimes leave to, so I have to prepare those and queue them. I used to bring out my laptop for that, but
now I have a tablet of sorts (actually a Nook Tablet that I tweaked so it runs
on android like a normal tablet), so I just bring that out and create a
playlist on it, which helps keep things organized and queued when I need them
ready. As long as I have a few minutes
it is usually no problem to get things ready by showtime.

I was going to record a whole show on my camcorder, but I figured out today
why it quit working in the middle of yesterday's recording: the battery ran out. And, as I only just figured that out minutes
before the show started, I couldn't record anything today--just take
pictures. I was, however, able to hook
up an audio recorder directly into the system, so anything that was said into
any microphones was recorded right into my device! I was also able to hook up some earbuds and
hear exactly what was being said. I
thought that was a pretty nifty trick!

I always have a hard time telling exactly when to play music or have a
character come in. Sometimes Dad tells
me beforehand just to interrupt him at some point, but when the time comes I
can't tell if he is still saying something that the kids need to hear or if
he's stalling and waiting for me to play the music...this can be pretty
disruptive to the show if I get it wrong (which I have been known to do on
occasion). Yesterday was, I'll admit, a
little patchy, but today I feel I did better.
There was one point where the situation I described above about Dad
stalling and waiting for me to start the music happened. However, he remedied the situation by banging
on the stage a couple times, which absolutely confirmed my suspicions that he
was waiting for me. Aside from that
part, I did do better than yesterday. Of
course, in years past, just when I think I have it down pretty well, the week is
up. I'll just do the best I can while
I'm here.

Everything wound down pretty much as expected. After the show we had a brief water fight
(pretty much the helpers get to squirt the kids with water or throw water balloons at them). I helped Steve-O with
his video message to his church again by holding the camera for him. We closed down pretty quickly and before I
knew it a lot of the team was leaving.
Those of us who stayed talked together for quite a while (guess that's
what happens when you get Dad together with friends he doesn't see often from
all round the country). After that, we
went to Pizza Hut and everyone got to eat at the buffet and pig out after a
hard day of work.

Now I'm back here again in the pavilion watching the supplies. Dad said I'll probably end up watching this
stuff for a lot of the week before going to bed each night. That gives good amount of time to blog and
look at my pictures in the evenings as I am doing now.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to record a whole kidz show like I've been
trying to for a couple days now. There's
always been just one or two problems, but I think I'll have them all solved by showtime tomorrow.

Well, I'm excited for the week ahead.
It may be a lot of work, but I know that in the end it's always worth
it!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

I meant to post this last night, but I couldn't connect to the wifi the night before, so I was backed up one day. Here's last nights:

Today seemed like the second really big, really busy day of Sturgis as a
whole. Of course, having set up
yesterday made that the first really hard day of Sturgis. But today, we had to finish setup and open
for the first time of the week, which made things a little more difficult than
normal.

We had to get up on time this morning for sure so we could get up and
running as soon as possible. That was
pretty hard after the night before (staying up pretty late watching everything
for security--oh, not to mention getting locked out of the church for a few
minutes, just when I thought the day was finally over). However, we all made it to the park right
around 8 and setup began. There was more
moving and lots of unpacking yet to do.
Some things we weren't able to finish up the day before, so actually
opening was still a lot of work.

I was too busy setting up sound and watching bounce houses to take many
pictures at first. I still found a
chance to get some pictures, but it took some juggling to get a replacement
first. This is where I really felt how
being short staffed made things a little more difficult.

The kids show started a little after 2.
We had only one microphone, so we had to skip puppets, but we pulled it
off and had a good show.

I'm always surprised how short the day was when it's over, and today was no
exception. Everyone left for dinner and
I stayed behind with a couple others.
While we were waiting, chaplain D-no came by and talked with us for most
of the afternoon. Now I am blogging yet
again while watching the equipment. It's
dark, but the pavilion has lights and electrical hookups, so I'm good.

Over all, having a great time here!
It never seems as fun at the time as the memories do, so I'm trying to savoir the time now while I'm here...I think it's more enjoyable.

By the way, I've been helping “Steve-O” with his video blog for a couple
days now. You can check it out over here
if you want!

Monday, August 6, 2012

It'a been pretty busy these last few days. In less than just a week, we have packed, left for Sturgis, arrived at the church in Rapid City (one day of driving--that was a long day), created fliers for the Kidz Zone, spread those fliers all over Sturgis and the surrounding areas, and today we ended up on Sunday, so Dad preached a sermon at the church we had been staying at. After church, we went and had lunch at Golden Corral, then headed out to the Sturgis City Park to set up all our equipment. We have a few less helpers this year than normal, but we have been able to do most everything we normally do without much difficulty.

Now I'm sitting under the pavilion helping watch the equipment with Mr. Kevin Riley while everyone else is getting dinner. Its the end of a long week and I am tired. And Sturgis Bike Week is only just beginning!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Note: this post was intended for my blog over at Wordpress, but, unfortunately, after much research and trial and error, I have had to switch back to Blogger in order to accommodate slideshows and other features. I'll be posting from this blog from now on (unless something else happens and I have to switch again, which I really hope doesn't have to happen again).

I had the chance to take some pictures at the Pueblo River Walk. My mom took me and my sister to eat dinner at Angelo's Pizza and afterward I walked around. As the evening set in I was glad to have brought my tripod, as I set up many shots that took many seconds of exposure.

Here's some of the best ones...I've been looking into getting a Flickr account for some time now and today I actually did, so I'm able to put up this slide show here...